Shin Mazinger Zero seems like an alternate universe or retelling of the original Mazinger Z... until Kouji starts to have visions of events that happened in the original series, including a flashback of the death of Minerva-X, and it is revealed that this series is a sequel to the original anime, in the which the characters are locked in a perpetual time loop.

Turn A Gundam takes this a step further: though in-story it doesn't state that much, it's out-and-out obvious that the Black History is comprised of the events of all previous Gundam shows. Official material draws the timelines as parallel lines with individual events of all the other Gundam series until finally merging to form the Correct Century (Turn A's universe) circle (Fridge Logic meaning it will never proceed any further) meaning Turn A is the Sequel to all of them because it has the power to merge timelines.

The twist ending to the 2007 anime adaptation of Skull Man revealed that the series was a Stealth Prequel to Cyborg 009, and that Skull Man would later become Black Ghost, the Big Bad of that series.

Mai-Otome in the beginning seemed like a spin-off series and Transplanted Character Series to Mai-HiME, only with Magical Girls instead of Mons. But as the story progressed, maddeningly vague hints began insinuating that Otome is in fact set in a far future of HiME, and that the Otome and SLAVES themselves descendant technology of the HiME and Orphans. The manga (which is a separate continuity from the anime) explicitly confirms it's the future.

Accel World is set in the far future of Sword Art Online. Although this is known to most fans of the author, it's not obvious until a later episode of Accel World, where the main character directly refers to the main Virtual Reality of SAO.

Jaco the Galactic Patrolman turns out to be a prequel to Dragon Ball. Jaco's mission was to stop Kakarot/Goku's pod from landing on Earth. He fails, obviously. Also, Tights is Bulma's older sister.

Adolescence of Utena, the movie successor to Revolutionary Girl Utena, appears to take place in an Alternate Continuity. But there are certain hints, such as personality changes and song lyrics, that seem to be saying that this is actually an extremely metaphorical true ending to the series.

The manga is also an Alternate Continuity, but its ending points towards a much bigger story happening in the future, making it seem like a prequel to the show and movie. Also, clothing changes that happen during the manga (Utena's black uniform, Chu-chu's tie) carry over to the show.

When Peter David first began work on Fallen Angel, there were some strong hints that it was actually a sequel to his previous Supergirl series, and that the heroine, "Lee," was actually Supergirl herself. This was changed when the series was moved from DC to IDW, preventing any such revelation from ever occurring. A character named Lin was later introduced, and Word of God is that she's essentially a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo from the Linda Danvers version of Supergirl.

Jeph Loeb's final arc on Superman/Batman, "With a Vengeance" wasn't just a cap to his run on the book, but it also turned out to be as a sequel to Emperor Joker as the villains of the arc ultimately turn out to be The Joker and Mr. Mxzytplk.

At first, it seemed like Gerard Way's run on Doom Patrol would be a reboot of the franchise, especially since it was the debut title of the Young Animal imprint and does not acknowledge the team's then-most-recent appearance in Geoff Johns' Justice League run. However, issue 3 makes it clear that both Grant Morrison and Keith Giffen's runs did indeed happen, by having Robotman reference events within those series.

In Ruin Value, it is revealed at the end of the story that it is a stealth prequel to the entire series, the story being set millenia before the present in the show, when Luna, Celestia, and Discord were all young, and that ponies were the product of genetic engineering.

Films — Live-Action

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010) isn't too stealthy about it since Alice is older, but she starts off her adventure in nearly the same way as the original book. A viewer could assume it's a Hotter and Sexier version until a scene where, while Alice is struggling with changing size, the Dodo remarks, "You'd think she'd remember all of this from the first time."

In some foreign markets, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was released as The Voyage Home: Star Trek IV, with "The Voyage Home" written in larger letters than "Star Trek IV". They were downplaying the fact that it was Star Trek film as Trek films were considered to perform badly overseas. There was also a prologue added (you can see it here) to explain the events of Star Trek III as it was felt that not enough people outside the U.S. had seen it.

Catwoman is a stealth sequel to the Batman films, notably, Batman Returns. Her origin is identical to the one played by Michelle Pfeiffer, the Catwoman persona is said to be a Legacy Character, and in the pictures of former "Catwomen", we see Michelle Pfeiffer's original character.

Basement Jack is a loose sequel to Evilution, the two film featuring the same old apartment building and creepy manager and his equally creepy display room of murderous artifacts, which he adds more weapons to at the end of both films (a vial of alien virus in Evilution, and the eponymous character's sword in Basement Jack).

At the end of Final Destination 5two of the remaining survivors die in Flight 180, revealing the film to be a prequel to the first film.

Charlie's Angels is implied to be a sequel to the show by having the same person play Charlie and by the sequel showing that these were not the first Angels. It is confirmed in Full Throttle when Jaclyn Smith reprises her role as Kelly Garrett.

A number of people really didn't expect Paranormal Activity 2 to be a direct prequel to the first film which only explicitly states that it is after the first 14 minutes. It later transitions into a sequel at the end which shows what immediately happened after the events of Paranormal Activity.

Viewers are led to believe that the events of Saw IV take place after the events of Saw III. It isn't until the final few minutes that it is revealed that the events of both films were actually taking place at the exact same time.

Inverted by Prometheus, which fans of the Alien films wanted to be a direct prequel but turned out to be more of a side story.

Lots of weird behind-the-scenes drama resulted in Savage Vengeance being this to I Spit on Your Grave.

Originally there was going to be a different post-credits scene which would have made this more explicit. The original idea was that Mia, the Final Girl, would be walking alone down a road while covered in blood from the encounter with the Deadites, only for an S-Mart truck to pull over next to her. The window would then roll down to reveal Ash, who would ask Mia if she needed help.

The film version of The Dark Tower is shaping up to be one to the books themselves, as Stephen King tweeted an image of the Horn of Gilead, which Roland gained in the final chapter of the final novel.

Literature

If you did not pay attention, you may not have noticed that Jonas from The Giver makes an appearance in Gathering Blue, indicating that he's made it to Elsewhere (and that the latter takes place after the former). Word of God said that it was up to the reader to decide if it was Jonas or not, but Messenger overly hints that it was Jonas, and Son outright states that it is him.

Diana Wynne Jones' The Merlin Conspiracy is described on its own jacket blurb as being a stand-alone book, and its plot is not immediately familiar. However, reading further into it reveals that its main protagonist, Nick, is the same Nick from Jones' Deep Secret. However, while The Merlin Conspiracy is a young adult book, Deep Secret was written for a more adult audience.

Peter S. Beagle's The Innkeepers Song includes an elderly wizard that in many ways seems to be an extremely old version of Schmendrick from Beagle's earlier (and more famous) book The Last Unicorn. This is never explicitly confirmed or denied, and when asked in person Beagle responds with a smile: "I don't know; what do you think?"

Brandon Sanderson made a stealth prequel with Warbreaker. The book was published several years before The Stormlight Archive, but in the second book of Stormlight, two Warbreaker characters (Vasher and Nightblood) appeared. Sanderson later said that he plotted out Stormlight first; Warbreaker was primarily written to have a place for those characters to be from. In hindsight, several parts of Warbreaker foreshadows Stormlight, such as the appearance of BioChromatic Breath paralleling Stormlight, and the sentient sword Nightblood being very similar to Shardblades.

The final episode of Harry's Law has Lisa Nicole Carson reprise her role as Renee Raddick from Ally McBeal, placing the show in the same continuity as most of creator David E. Kelley's other shows, which most viewers had assumed it wasn't, given that several regulars from those shows (Mark Valley, Camryn Manheim, Christian Clemenson) appear as different characters on this one.

Planetfall has a few references to Infocom's previous sci-fi work Starcross that imply that it is set within the same universe several centuries later. And a grue appears, implying it is in the Zork universe as well.

Narcolepsy by Adam Cadre isn't advertised as a sequel to Adam Cadre's previous work I-0, but it isn't long before you run across a place mentioned in the prior game. Also, I-0's protagonist Tracy Valencia makes a somewhat in-joky cameo.

Dinner with Andre by Liza Daly has a twist ending where the PC turns out to be the same character from Liza's previous IF work Bloodline several years later and sees someone she knows from that time.

Masquerade by Kathleen Fischer has a number of endings, one of them causing the game to become a prequel to her other work, The Cove.

Shadow Hearts wasn't advertised as a sequel to Koudelka, and indeed some people still claim that they don't have any real story links, despite the recurring theme of the Emigre Document, the villain impersonating a character from Koudelka, the real version of that character turning up later, Koudelka herself playing a significant role, Koudelka's son being a party member, and the last chapter of Shadow Hearts taking place in the monastery Koudelka was set in.

Captain Commando is a futuristic sequel to Final Fight. The game is set in Metro City, Ginzu the Ninja is Guy's future successor in the ways of the Bushin school, and a bust of Mike Haggar can be obtained as a power-up.

Dragon Quest III looks like a Continuity Reboot, but late in the game you find yourself on a very familiar world map, and the ending names you as the famed ancestor of the first two games' heroes.

Dragon Quest VI has thematic links to the other "Zenithian Trilogy" games (IV and V), but there are hints that it's actually a prequel.

Snatcher, being the second game directed by Hideo Kojima following the original Metal Gear, features several references to his previous work. Most notably Gillian Seed's robotic sidekick, who was modeled by his creator after the "Metal Gear menace from the late 20th century." Other references include Junker chief Benson Cunningham being a former FOX-HOUND strategist and the head of the Snatcher project being none other than Dr. Pettrovich Madnar, the creator of the original Metal Gear. However, numerous inconsistencies introduced in later Metal Gear sequels has made the series hard to fit into the Snatcher continuity anymore.

The sci-fi FPS series Marathon takes place in the far future of the horror-adventure-FPS Pathways into Darkness; the Jjaro and W'rkncacnter play a key role in both, and some even theorize that the protagonist of Marathon is literally Pathways's hero rebuilt as a cyborg. There's also a theory that, given the Theme Naming in place, Halo is also part of the same universenote the Master Chief given MJOLNIR Mk. V/VI armor, while the player of Marathon is a Mjolnir Mark IV cyborg; Bungie making the Security Chief's helmet playable as the Security Armor in Halo 3 could be proof of this being the case, though this seems to have become far less likely now that Bungie no longer owns the franchise.

Of course, Marathon: Infinity features both alternate universes and the death of a universe, with the implication that there's something after said death (since one can potentially escape it). Considering the similarities in both verses, particularly how AIs work, Halo may have been intended as an Alternate Universe of Marathon, or even its successor after Marathon's universe "died". Yes, they might have pulled a BioShock a decade before BioShock did it.

BioShock Infinite has story-wise no connection with the earlier games whatsoever for most of the game, until at the very end it's revealed to be a prequel/sequel/taking place on an alternate timeline when the player character is teleported to Rapture, the setting of the first two games.

The Burial at Sea DLC affirms this trope further, alternating between timelines of both the main campaign but also of the first BioShock.

In the Fire Emblem series, the Jugdral games are implied to be a distant prequel to the Akaneia games, taking place many years earlier on a different continent. Loptyr, the games' Big Bad, is implied to be a member of the Earth Dragon tribe like the Akaneia games' villain Medeus, and the deity Naga is the same in both games. Likewise, while Fire Emblem Awakening is directly stated to be a distant sequel to the Akaneia games, the existence of Priam, who claims to be a descendant of Ike, also implicitly puts it as a sequel to Tellius games as well, though how distant is uncertain.

The Williams Electronics game Blaster is suggested to be a sequel to Robotron 2084. The arcade games attract mode mentions something about the Robotrons having destroyed humanity. Given this much, it indicates that the player ultimately failed in their mission (or just ran out of quarters, the game got too fast, or the player got tired of playing. It would have to be one of these since games of this era had no ending except for you losing all of your lives). Incidentally, according to Electronic Games magazine, Robotron 2084 was a sequel to Defender and Defender II.

The hero of Wolfenstein 3D, BJ Blazkowicz, is revealed to be the grandfather of Commander Keen in the hint book for the former. There's also a persistent theory that the protagonist of Doom is also a descendant of BJ; the mobile RPGs go with this, where the final boss of Wolfenstein RPG is the Cyberdemon minus cybernetic parts (complete with those parts being destroyed when you defeat it) and the protagonist of Doom RPG is given the name "Stan Blazkowicz".

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 doesn't look like this since it's a Numbered Sequel to the first game. Until Nights 5 and 6 reveal that it's actually a prequel. You can also notice by the lower pay, the fact that the Phone Guy is still alive, and the fact that animatronics used to walk around in the day in the first game, while they currently do in the second.

Five Nights at Freddy's 4 has cutscenes in between nights that hint towards this trope, but the true reveal that 4 is a stealth prequel for the entire franchise doesn't come until the cutscene of Night 5, where an event plays out that is heavily implied to be either the infamous "Bite of '87" or an even earlier event.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker was billed a Mario Spinoff based on the Captain Toad levels of Super Mario 3D World. However, The Stinger depicts a modified opening of 3D World, showing that Captain Toad was chasing a green star into the Sprixie Kingdom Pipe moments after Mario and co. went in there to chase after Bowser, making Treasure Tracker a prequel.

Armored Core V was initially thought of as a Continuity Reboot of the Armored Core series (like the 3 and 4 installments before it), but Verdict Day features several surprise appearances of elements of the 4 universe and the Forgotten Day text story strongly imply the series is actually set in the future of the Armored Core 4 universe.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy is a stealth prequel to the original game, ending where the first one started: a nameless warrior outside Corneria with a crystal in hand. However, due to the Timey-Wimey Ball of the series, it's a sequel from the perspective of Garland.

Might and Magic X is set in Ubisoft's rebooted Might & Magic verse called Ashan, and is consequently forbidden from having explicit science fantasy elements. It also drops some heavy hints that Ashan is just one world amongst the many in the old setting, including featuring a character from the mid-90s novels... who in those novels confirmed that the distant place he came from was an interstellar polity he served as an undercover operative for.

MOTHER 3 plays with this in an unusual way. Its title makes it clear that it is considered a sequel to Mother 2 (known in America as EarthBound), and it carries over certain gameplay elements from the previous games, but plot-wise it still mostly fits this trope. It takes place in a time and place very, very different from the previous game and it's not until later in the game that it becomes clear that this setting is even in the same universe as the previous one.

Alone in the Dark: Ted Carnby in Illumination is implied to actually be the original Edward Carnby, still alive in the modern era and living under an assumed identity. This suggests the game is actually a sequel to the 2008 Alone in the Dark game.

There are some implications that the 2014 installment of Thief, billed as a Continuity Reboot, is actually a continuation of the original trilogy. Cases in point include the factions in the game being stated to have roots in history, the original Garret's mechanical eye being a collectible artifact in the game, and the existence a historical character implied to be the original Garrett.

Volume was marketed as a standalone title, but the in-game flavor-text quickly establishes it as a sequel to creator Mike Bithell's earlier game, Thomas Was Alone. It even includes lyrics from a song about the protagonists of the first game.

Disgaea 5 seems like another Numbered Sequel in the series, save for a few oddities like relations between the Netherworld and Celestia being non-existent, and Christo (initially) having some rather outdated views on how demons are supposed to behave. This is seemingly explained in the epilogue which implies the game is in fact a prequel to the rest of the franchise, and that Christo will eventually become Seraph Lamington from the first game.

Phase Paradox is a sequel to the 1995 space shooter Philosoma. While Philosoma had a slight element of horror, Phase Paradox is a straight survival horror game.

The Legend of Zelda Oracle games games are meant to be stealth prequels to Link's Awakening: the ending of a linked game shows Link sailing on a boat that looks a lot like the one at the beginning of LA. It wasn't officially confirmed until years after, in the Hyrule Hystoria.

Call Of Duty Infinite Warfare takes place in the far future of the Modern Warfare series, but apart from some minor nods (Such as the Retribution's hull designation, SWC-141, being recommended by Russian delegates in remembrance of Task Force 141's rescue of President Vorshevsky back in Modern Warfare 3.), it's not very noticeable.

For quite a long time, Black Ops Civil Service webcomic Skin Horse by Jeff Wells and Shaenon Garrity looked to be the spiritual successor to Garrity's earlier Mad Science comic Narbonic, but readers suspected it was actually a sequel. It was three and a half years before the connection was officially made. The actual degree of continued story is pretty marginal, but Word of God confirms the connection was planned from the beginning and not just Ascended Fanon.

Web Original

After the events of To Boldly Flee, The Nostalgia Critic series ended with the titular character Ascending to a Higher Plane of Existence and Doug Walker decided to go on to film new content, including a show called Demo Reel. When the latter proved to be mostly unsuccessful, and Doug decided that he wasn't done with the critic just yet, he made an episode where it was revealed that something went wrong with the Critic's ascent and he ended up being trapped in purgatory as Donnie DuPre, the main character of Demo Reel.

"Just Me In The House By Myself", the first episode of the webseries Dryvrs, stars Macauley Culkin. It is a sequel to the two first Home Alone movies, in which Kevin is shown having grown into a very disfunctional adult.

Star Wars Rebels was originally another mostly self-contained installment of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, in this case showing events in the galaxy in between the first two trilogies. However, as it goes on, it quickly proves to be a direct sequel to previous cartoon Star Wars: The Clone Wars as well, picking up on several hanging plot threads left over from that series, including the fates of Ahsoka Tano, Captain Rex, and Darth Maul.

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